With the NBA trade deadline approaching at 3 p.m. EST, one player is going nowhere: Unless General Manager Mitch Kupchak is the world’s best bluffer, the Los Angeles Lakers will hold onto Dwight Howard.

“We’ve been very consistent,” Kupchak said on “The Herd with Colin Cowherd” (via ESPN). “We’re not trading Dwight Howard. … He will not be traded, and there’s nothing that anybody can do today to call me today and ask me, ‘Would you do this?’ and get a positive result.”

All righty then. Of course, Howard can render all the affection moot if he decides to become a free agent when the season ends.

“The only thing that matters is right now,” Howard said. “Nobody can control what happens in the offseason. Like I said to you guys before, there’s no need to talk about it every day.

“There’s no need for me to make a decision right now. My goal hasn’t changed. I want to win a championship and I want to win one here. I’m here right now and this is our chance to get one this season. It’s been tough, but we have an opportunity to change all that.”

Kupchak was a little less adamant about trading Pau Gasol, who is out with torn plantar fascia.

“We’re not going to trade Pau today or tomorrow, but his name has come up in the past, and it would be misleading to say it won’t come up in the future,” Kupchak said.

After spending most of her career in traditional print sports journalism, Cindy began blogging and tweeting, first as NFL/Redskins editor, and, since August 2010, at The Early Lead. She also is the social media editor for Sports.

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